Over 100 years after the first Longhorn permanently joined Texas Exes, the organization is celebrating 100,000 life members, according to the Texas Exes website. 

Life membership is the University alumni association’s highest membership tier. 90% of life member dues fund an endowment that helps Texas Exes offer connection opportunities for alumni and student scholarships. Life members also receive access to benefits including access to UT library resources, discounts at local and on-campus vendors, a key tag etched with their membership number and a subscription to Texas Exes’ magazine, The Alcalde. 

Jamie Puryear, Texas Exes’ vice president of marketing, called life members “the lifeblood of the University ” because of their commitment to students.

“When we look at the most engaged alumni that are volunteering the most, that are most involved — whether it be from hiring students to internships to reading resumes and beyond — they’re life members,” Puryear, an active life member, said.

Texas Exes has over 150 chapters globally with about 110,000 total members, putting it among the world’s largest university alumni networks. Puryear said its growth has fluctuated with the school’s academic and athletic reputation, but life membership has skyrocketed since 2009 as Texas Exes began promoting its long history at UT. 

“It’s always fun seeing people driving around, and you see the life member license plate frame they have or the life member decal that they’re displaying on their car,” said Matt Pollock, Texas Exes’ membership and alumni records manager. “There’s a pride factor to it for sure.”

Each life membership is recorded by hand and added to a series of scrolls kept in UT’s Alumni Center. Some families like Puryear’s have multiple generations of life members, but Texas Exes’ largest life membership recruitment drive, The Great Texas Exit, occurs at its post-graduation celebration, and targets new and legacy students. 

“We see it as a huge opportunity because not only are these students who are first generation or first generation Longhorn, but new to UT,” Puryear said. “They’re not necessarily born in the UT onesie, but we’re seeing that they’re embracing this fully, and as is their family.”

After officially presenting Bevo with the 100,000th Life Membership, Pollock says Texas Exes is moving towards its next milestone.

“It was ‘Celebrate the big moment that we have,’ but then just continue to look forward to the growth that will happen after that,” he said.